In the few cases where I’ve disagreed with the Daily Herald’s editorial opinions, I’ve done so understanding the arguments made and the clear reasoning behind them.

In the case of the recent editorial on school funding reform (this year’s Senate Bill 1), I have to admit I am mystified as to how the Herald reached the conclusion that this version of school funding reform is nothing more than a bailout of the Chicago Public School System.

The Herald attacked supporters of funding reform for going along with a plan that would supposedly benefit Chicago at the expense of our districts. This could not be further from the truth.

(1) The formula is evidence-based and distributes funds in a fair and equitable manner.

(2) The legislation is written so that no school district will receive less money than it has received under the current funding formula.

(3) The reform will support our neediest districts. The largest share of new funds will be delivered to districts furthest from the adequacy target, according to the model published by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

(4) The $70.8 million going to Chicago, according to the ISBE model, is going to a school district with almost 500 schools and more than 390,000 students, based on numbers from the Illinois Report Card.

Zion Elementary School District 6, which has a comparable number of low-income students (based on DHS calculations) and similar progress towards the adequacy target will receive $1.6 million for its 2,773 students, according to numbers from ISBE.

Similarly, Round Lake Unit District 116 will receive an additional $5.5 million in funding for its roughly 7,297 students.

(5) Funding Illinois’ Future reports that the school funding reform passed reflects the core principles of the Governor’s School Funding Reform Commission. If Gov. Rauner vetoes this legislation, he will be acting against the recommendations of the bipartisan commission he formed.

(6) Chicago does not gain the most per pupil from this funding reform. In fact, 268 school districts gain more per pupil than Chicago Public Schools, according to the ISBE model.

At its most basic, the legislative intent of this bill is to remove the politics from education funding. The prior formula was simply not equitable, nor based on evidence. This bill bases education funding on a formula that evidence shows is equitable.

This formula, and indeed this legislation, is supported by hundreds of superintendents, school districts, community organizations and churches from all corners of the State of Illinois.

As a lifelong resident of Lake County and a parent of a child who went through the Lake County school system, I can finally see progress with the way the State of Illinois is funding education in my district. This is real reform that moves the needle towards ensuring every student in Illinois gets a quality education regardless of their zip code.

Like many states, Illinois passed legislation trying to control the opioid and heroin epidemic.

The Heroin Crisis Act, which took effect Sept. 9, 2015, included a series of changes to the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program, a statewide database maintained by the Illinois Department of Human Services.

The PMP records prescriptions for opioids and other potentially addictive drugs when they are filled at pharmacies. Through the program, medical providers can see what their patients are taking and help catch people seeking fraudulent prescriptions, a practice known as “doctor-shopping.”...

...In 2017, State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, sponsored legislation that would make PMP checks mandatory for prescribers or people they designate to.

“It’s indefensible and reprehensible (not to check),” Bush said on the Senate floor before her bill passed without a single “no” vote.

The bill then sailed through the House Human Services Committee unanimously, but it was held for an amendment by state Rep. Michael Zalewski, D-Riverside, after the ISMS voiced concerns. Zalewski said he asked the organization twice before the legislative deadline for the amendment it wanted to submit, but ISMS didn’t send it.

One result of the Illinois legislature's repeated failure to pass a budget is a big backlog of unpaid bills to companies and nonprofits that do business with the state or have contracts to care for the sick and needy.

In the suburbs, that adds up to $2.2 billion owed to more than 5,100 health care providers, local government agencies, small businesses and other state vendors.

That's according to the most recent figures released by Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza's office late last week that showed amounts owed to vendors in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties from the state's general fund.

The amount is roughly 15 percent of the $14.7 billion the state owes all vendors. Chicago-based vendors are owed close to $5.6 billion, according to the comptroller's figures.

"It makes it tough, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone," said Mark Stutrud, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, based in Des Plaines.

Lutheran Social Services shuttered several social service programs during the state budget crisis that began three years ago. At one point, Stutrud said, the charity was owed millions from the state, but that amount has shrunk in recent months. Lutheran Social Services is now owed close to $1 million, according to the comptroller's figures. Stutrud said that's mainly for providing mental health care.

"It's disgraceful, the whole situation," said Arlington Heights Republican state Rep. David Harris. "It significantly hurts these vendors and forces them in essence to be Illinois' banker by providing the dollars we use to run our state in any number of different ways. It's an embarrassment."

The state last passed a full-year budget in 2014.

The comptroller's data was for bills submitted up to June 2, but it didn't detail how long some of the bills had gone unpaid.

However, officials in Mendoza's office said bills from some suburban school districts go back to at least the start of the 2016-17 school year. Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 is owed nearly $4.8 million -- mainly for special education reimbursements -- and has been seeking payment since September 2016.

School districts "are in a quandary" about how to budget for the coming school year, District 211 Superintendent Dan Cates said. "Schools need to brace for another year of uncertainty."

Health insurance management firms like Oak Brook-based Molina Healthcare and Westmont-based Illinicare, both health providers for Medicaid recipients, are owed the most in the suburbs, together accounting for more than $1 billion.

School districts have hefty bills as well. Elgin Area School District U-46 and Bloom Township High School District 206 in Chicago Heights are owed a combined $41 million.

Some vendors were owed just pennies. Paddock Publications, the parent company of the Daily Herald, is owed $321.13, according to the comptroller's report.

To compound the state's financial woes, state law requires interest payments on most past due bills after 60 days.

"Currently, we owe something like $700 million to $800 million in interest alone," said Democratic state Rep. Marty Moylan of Des Plaines. Democrats blame Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for insisting on pro-business changes before agreeing to a budget, while the GOP blames Democratic leaders who control the legislature.

Some lawmakers are worried vendors will stop doing business with the state.

"Who are you getting to do the work that's willing to wait months, if ever, to get paid?" said Grayslake Democratic state Sen. Melinda Bush. "We've got to pass a budget to be sure we're getting the best workers."

Lake County legislators on both sides of the aisle are expressing anger, frustration and — in some cases — a shared sense of disappointment in top leadership of both parties as the state's dire budget woes continue.

After the state legislature's spring session closed Wednesday without the passage of a budget, further prolonging a situation dating back two years, both Republican and Democratic senators and state representatives bemoaned another lost opportunity.

"The Senate passed a balanced budget and passed it to the (Illinois) House. Now the speaker and the governor need to put down their swords," State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, said Thursday of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Bush, who called the amount of time Illinois has gone without a budget "unprecedented" in the modern era, lauded a bipartisan committee of legislators that has been working for months to reach compromises on issues of contention and soften party lines. But she added that both Rauner and Madigan continue to effectively steer votes along party lines.

The Senate's passage of the budget, without one supporting Republican vote, leaves the matter in the hands of the House, but Madigan's decision not to call a vote by the end of May means the legislature will now need a three-fifths super-majority to approve budget items.

Bush said that will make the task even more difficult, and the projected income-tax increase that will be needed to address the state's current $14.4 billion debt will only get higher with each year that a budget is not passed.

She added that the budget proposal passed by the Senate, which included many of the conditions Rauner has said he wants, would result in an income-tax increase of about 4.9 percent, and that "if it goes on for another year, we're going to need a 6 percent increase."

The state legislature is expected to reconvene before the end of June. The state's fiscal year ends June 30.Summer rerun: Session ends with Democrats, Rauner failing to cut budget deal

"We're not giving up. We're still here for a month, and we have a group of bipartisan legislators still trying (to reach compromise)," Bush said.